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WELCOME TO THE EARLY ALERT, AN IMAGINE CANADA NEWSLETTER.
Keep up-to-date with sector-related policy happenings and feel empowered to take action on policies that affect you.
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Scheduling note: During the Summer Parliamentary recess, the Early Alert is on a reduced schedule. We’ll arrive in your inbox next on September 12, then return to our weekly schedule.
Imagine Canada’s priorities for Budget 2024
Imagine Canada’s submission to the Finance Committee’s 2024 pre-budget consultations recommends the creation of a home in government, measures to make federal funding more effective and equitable, the development of a federal labour and workforce strategy for the nonprofit sector, improvements to the availability of federally collected data about nonprofits, and analysis on the impacts of proposed changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SUBMISSION
Federal Nonprofit Data Coalition priorities for Budget 2024
More than 30 members of the Federal Nonprofit Data Coalition, including Imagine Canada, signed onto a joint submission to the pre-budget consultation process. Our recommendations focus on the creation of a permanent external nonprofit sector advisory committee, the collection of snapshot data on the sector, improvements to ongoing data collection on the sector, and the creation of a Nonprofit Sector Data Lab.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SUBMISSION
ICYMI - What trends will impact charities and nonprofits in the third quarter of 2023?
As much as we’d all love to go to the beach and forget about the news for a while, there is a lot happening right now that will impact our sector. The climate crisis is intensifying, with its impacts making themselves known on a weekly basis. Although Parliament is on break for the summer, nonprofits engaged in advocacy and policy work should be thinking about what an upcoming federal election means for their work. Finally, a new study shows that nonprofit organizations led by Black and Indigenous people and those from other underrepresented groups are doing much more to advance EDI than white-led organizations.
Government consulting Canadians on several budget 2023 tax measures including Alternative Minimum Tax changes
In the last Budget, the federal government introduced changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which reduced the inclusion of the Charitable Tax Credit from 100% to 50% when calculating the AMT. This change may disincentivize large charitable donations made by wealthy donors over time. The government is consulting Canadians on this change and numerous other tax changes announced in Budget 2023. Interested parties can share their feedback on these proposals by emailing Consultation-Legislation@fin.gc.ca by September 8.
Applications for Max Bell Foundation Public Policy Training Institute open now
The Public Policy Training Institute is a twelve-day professional development program delivered over six months. It is designed to help participants more effectively engage in public policy advocacy. Applications are open to staff and volunteer board members of Canadian charities who want to advance the mission of their organization through public policy advocacy. Whether your organization has experience in public policy advocacy or is relatively new to the field, this extraordinary professional development opportunity will help you improve.
Reminder: Consultation on proposed changes to Canadian Accounting Standards for nonprofits
The Canadian Accounting Standards Board recently released draft changes to accounting standards related to recognizing contributions and nonprofit financial statements. The proposed changes, once finalized, will affect all organizations that apply Accounting Standards for NFPOs (Part III of the Canadian GAAP Accounting Handbook) and will result in significant change to many NFPO financial statements. The consultation period for these draft changes runs until September 30, 2023.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE DRAFT AND SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK
The House of Commons has risen for the summer. It will resume September 18, 2023.